Sriram Hathwar and Ansun Sujoe made history by becoming co-champions at the 87th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.

Twenty-two tense rounds of stress-inducing action came down to Hathwar and Sujoe, as they dueled through the toughest words the tournament had to throw at them before all puzzles were exhausted.

Their triumph was quite a rare event, as explained by the competition's Twitter account:

For their extensive efforts, Hathwar and Sujoe receive the following, via the prizes page of the tournament's website:

From Scripps, a $30,000 cash prize and the Scripps National Spelling Bee engraved trophy

From Merriam-Webster, a $2,500 U.S. savings bond and a complete reference library

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, $1,200 of reference works including the Britannica Global Edition, 1768 Encyclopaedia Britannica Replica Set Deluxe Edition, 3-year membership to Britannica Online Premium and Britannica World Atlas

The day started with Round 7, highlighted by words such as osteochondrous—a word conquered by Kate Miller. Samuel Pereles was the first to bow out thanks to the word ecribellate, but was given quite the ovation, as captured by Natalie DiBlasio of USA Today:

DING! Oh no! The audience sighs sadly. First speller is OUT - Samuel Pereles gets a standing ovation as he walks off the stage. #SpellingBee

After correctly spelling chrysochlorous in the seventh round, Neha Konakalla was the next contestant eliminated thanks to taglioni. Tajaun Gibbison bowed out shortly thereafter thanks to a short, but again tricky, word—chartula.

Miller was next to go thanks to exochorion, but provided plenty of laughs in her post-competition interview, as illustrated by MashableLIVE:

Kate Miller says she’s going to go home to Texas and watch every horror movie that she can get her hands on pic.twitter.com/w2BCFgpMYI

Alas, Hathwar plowed through the strange moment and hit on feijoada. Sujoe conquered the six-syllable augenphilologie.

Six successful spellings later, just four words remained as the two contestants entered Round 22. Hathwar stepped to the plate and knocked out stichomythia with three words left, meaning if Sujoe hit on feuilleton, the two would be declared co-champions.

Sujoe delivered, and the heartwarming event thus had a storybook ending for the two competitors.